More than half of substantiated California child abuse reports in recent years were not in the state’s database, which could result in child abusers being allowed to care for children, state …
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — More than half of substantiated California child abuse reports in recent years were not in the state’s database, which could result in child abusers being allowed to care for children, state auditors said Tuesday.
The state’s Child Abuse Central Index, run by the state Department of Justice, contains more than 25,000 reports of sexual and physical abuse and neglect that are backed by county records. But there are more than 52,000 such reports in county records, meaning nearly 27,000 reports — 52% — are in county records but not the state’s database, auditors said.
Tilden said in his letter that the current reporting process is “cumbersome and error-prone,” with several reasons for the problems. Auditors found other problems: Justice officials sent at least 224 notices wrongly saying there was no match with the state database, and wrongly said at least 25 times that there was a “possible match” with the database.